Pennies for Your Thoughts: Costly Product Consideration and Purchase Quantity Thresholds

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufeng Huang ◽  
Bart J. Bronnenberg
Keyword(s):  
Costly Product ◽  
Purchase Quantity

Pennies for Your Thoughts: Costly Product Consideration and Purchase Quantity Thresholds

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1009-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufeng Huang ◽  
Bart J. Bronnenberg
Keyword(s):  
Costly Product ◽  
Purchase Quantity

SHARP: A System for Haptic Assembly and Realistic Prototyping

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Seth ◽  
Hai-Jun Su ◽  
Judy M. Vance
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Prototyping ◽  
Mechanical Assembly ◽  
Swept Volumes ◽  
Physically Based ◽  
Product Design Process ◽  
Costly Product ◽  
Easy Integration ◽  
Realization Process ◽  
Product Realization

Virtual Reality (VR) technology holds promise as a virtual prototyping tool for mechanical assembly; however, several developmental challenges still need to be addressed before virtual prototyping applications can successfully be integrated into the product realization process. This paper describes the development of SHARP (System for Haptic Assembly & Realistic Prototyping), a portable VR interface for virtual assembly. SHARP uses physically-based modeling for simulating realistic part-to-part and hand-to-part interactions in virtual environments. A dual handed haptic interface for realistic part interaction using the PHANToM® haptic devices is presented. The capability of creating subassemblies enhances the application’s ability to handle a wide variety of assembly scenarios. Swept volumes are implemented for addressing maintainability issues and a network module is added for communicating with different VR systems at dispersed geographic locations. Support for various types of VR systems allows an easy integration of SHARP into the product realization process resulting in faster product development, faster identification of assembly and design issues and a more efficient and less costly product design process.

When signal swamps substance: the effects of multi-unit discount’s positive and negative cues on sales

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 750-758
Author(s):  
Devon DelVecchio ◽  
Timothy B. Heath ◽  
Max Chauvin
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiment ◽  
Single Unit ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Unit Price ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Volume Increase ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perishable Goods ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Purchase Quantity

Purpose Multi-unit discounts (MUDs, e.g. “3 for $4”) typically increase sales relative to other discounting frames. This study demonstrates the value of MUDs by showing that positive multi-unit price/quantity signals are potent enough to match and even exceed the sales produced by larger discounts on single items. However, there is reason to believe that MUDs can produce neutral effects in some cases (e.g. among consumers interested in only single-unit purchases) and even negative effects in others. In addition, the study considers whether MUDs can, in some cases, reduce purchase quantities by signaling smaller-than-otherwise-planned purchase amounts and/or lower-quality products. Design/methodology/approach The effectiveness of MUDs is tested in both the field and lab. Study 1 models purchase quantities stemming from 2,374 purchases of discounted items at a mass retailer. Purchased products ranged in type from pantry items to apparel and electronics, and ranged in price from 44¢ to $99.99. There were 1,530 single-unit discounts, 596 two-unit discounts and 248 discounts, involving three or more units. Study 2 consists of a laboratory experiment that overcomes the shortcomings of Study 1 by accounting for non-purchasers, controlling for product classes and testing whether smaller MUDs can lead to lower purchase quantities for larger-purchase-quantity products. Findings The results of both the field study and the laboratory experiment indicate that MUDs’ monetary cue (savings) and purchase-quantity cue (volume) increase purchase quantities. Generally, purchase quantities increased monotonically with the number of units offered in the discount. In fact, the quantity cue is so effective that it can increase sales enough as to substitute for larger discounts. However, in some instances, MUDs can decrease intended purchase quantities. The negative effect of MUDs is the most pronounced for larger unit deals, offering deeper discounts on perishable goods. Originality/value This research is the first to demonstrate that the power of the signals provided by MUDs may be so positive as to lead them to be more effective than discounts of substantially larger value but also so negative as to render them less effective than single-units discounts. This negative outcome poses a threat beyond those typically associated with discounts, in that rather than consumers simply discounting a discount, in which case the discount remains positive even if their impact at the margin wanes, the MUD frame may actually reduce sales.

Optimal Ordering for Deteriorating Items of Fixed-Life with Quadratic Demand and Two-Level Trade Credit

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nita H. Shah ◽  
Mrudul Yogeshkumar Jani
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Trade Credit ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Deteriorating Items ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Credit Period ◽  
Numerical Examples ◽  
Optimal Ordering ◽  
Purchase Quantity

This chapter studies the retailer's ordering policies when items in the stocking system has fixed life time and subject to deteriorate with time. The demand is considered to be quadratically decreasing. The supplier offers credit period to the retailer which in turn is partially passed on to customer. The retailer is the decision maker and the objective is to minimize the total cost of the system by ordering optimum purchase quantity. Numerical examples are given to find the best possible scenario for the retailer. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to derive player's insights.

An Empirical Evaluation of Aggregation Approaches for Developing Market Segments

1982 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Elrod ◽  
Russell S. Winer
Keyword(s):  
Response Function ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
Relative Price ◽  
Market Segments ◽  
Purchase Quantity

In this paper criteria for aggregating customers into market segments are empirically tested. Analyses of individual customer response to relative price of a brand show that the relative price maximizing brand profits from each customer performed substantially better in terms of overall brand profits than other criteria such as elasticities and response function coefficients. When customer descriptor variables are linked to the aggregation criteria to account for imperfect segment reachability, a re-examination of brand profitability shows a decrease in overall profit levels but that aggregation criteria remain superior to creating segments based on purchase quantity.

Software Engineering Practices to Improve Code Quality and Prepare for Validation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah Kerry
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Product Recalls ◽  
Embedded Control ◽  
Control Applications ◽  
Monitoring Applications ◽  
Industrial Monitoring ◽  
Costly Product ◽  
Engineering Practices ◽  
Code Quality

Programmers creating mission-critical applications — embedded control applications, industrial monitoring applications, and high-performance test systems — cannot afford to introduce errors or uncertainty into the system. The stakes are especially high in medical applications, where failure can often lead to patient injury and costly product recalls.

Buy four get 30% off: how consumers respond to missing a quantity discount

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 1326-1342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Hsien Huang ◽  
Chun-Ming Yang
Keyword(s):  
Internal Validity ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Quantity Discounts ◽  
Natural Setting ◽  
Single Product ◽  
Quantity Discount ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Situational Influences ◽  
Purchase Quantity ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how consumers evaluate and respond after failing to receive the promotional price for a quantity discount because the minimum purchase requirement (MinPR) is out of reach. Although quantity discounts are effective in terms of increasing sales volume, the outcome of using them is not always positive. Design/methodology/approach – Two 2 × 2 experiments are carried out to test the research hypotheses in the context of apparel shopping. Findings – The results of Experiment 1 demonstrate that offering quantity discounts with a high MinPR (e.g. “4 for 30 per cent off”) can result in greater willingness to buy (WTB) a single product at the full price than offering promotions with a low MinPR (e.g. “2 for 30 per cent off”) in the wake of a missed quantity discount. In other words, the purchase quantity has a positive effect on the consumers’ WTB even when they are not able to take advantage of the discount. However, this relationship weakens when the selection of discounted items is limited (i.e. the scope of the promotion is narrow). The results of Experiment 2 reveal that when the missed quantity discount is based on dollars rather than on the number of pieces (e.g. “Buy $100, get 30 per cent off” vs “Buy four pieces, get 30 per cent off”), the effect of purchase quantity on WTB is enhanced. Finally, perceived closeness of purchase outcome to the MinPR mediates the effect of purchase quantity on WTB. Research limitations/implications – To maximize internal validity, hypothetical scenarios were used as stimuli rather than an actual consumption experience, and the setting involved only a single product category (clothing). Future work including other types of merchandise and a more natural setting is needed to generalize our findings. Practical implications – The purchase quantity or MinPR serves as a reference point that influences consumers’ purchase decisions, even those who do not buy enough to qualify for the price reduction. Our findings suggest that retailers should specify a relatively high MinPR for quantity discounts. In addition, proper selection of the promotional scope and discount base will significantly improve consumers’ behavioral reactions when they are not able to take advantage of a quantity discount. Originality/value – The primary contribution of this article to the marketing literature is that it provides empirical results that shed some light on the situational influences that missing a quantity discount has on the consumer’s WTB a single product at the regular price, and what the mechanisms for the purchase quantity effect might be.

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